A New Beginning

This week has turned out to be an interesting introduction to Lučenec. Since I don't know exactly what I will be doing at the center, yet, my schedule is quite random. Today and Monday, I had almost the entire day free, while I spent 12 hours at the center or moving about on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday, we visited Cinobaňa and I had my first experience in a Roma community. Pavel (my supervisor), a local pastor, and myself met with about 20 or so Romani in Cinobaňa at four (so, naturally we started at five) and had a bible study and discussion. It is quite difficult for me to listen to Slovak, since the speech is very quick and my vocabulary is quite limited, but the conversation lasted for hours.

Wednesday was a holiday for Mary, the Patron Saint of Slovakia, so I went on a hike with a local youth group to Pol'ana, a skiing village nearby. (Left: Signs pointing toward various hiking routes, marked in hours, not distance.).We went to another gypsy village that night and experienced a similar discussion to Tuesday's, albeit with a smaller crowd.

I also helped out at the Klub mamičiek (mother's club) on Tuesday and Thursday, where women are invited to come to the center with their children (aged 3 or younger) and play or leave their kids to run errands. Throughout the year, I may end up being involved in the mother's club, teaching English, or just helping out, in addition to working with the Roma population.

Lučenec, at Last!

Just a quick hello to say that I am finally here and am currently at 3Pe, my new workplace and community center. Tomorrow, I will visit the nearby gypsy village Cinobaňa, where I may end up doing quite a bit of work. Today, I just got to see the center, meet some employees and then relax pretty much all day. Tonight, I am joining some others for a game of volleyball, tomorrow morning we are off to Cinobaňa, and Wednesday is a National Slovak holiday for Saint Mary, the patron saint of Slovakia. I think we will be going for an easy hike on Wednesday, so let's hope for some good weather!

Tomorrow is the Big Day!

Today is our last full day in Bratislava as the three of us here in Slovakia will depart for our respective communities tomorrow afternoon! Our time in the "Little Big City" has been fun, but I am excited to get to Lučenec and finally settle into my new home away from home! Today, we had a nice free day and I was able to get to a bookshop and buy a Spanish-Slovak dictionary and Harry Potter... in Slovak! I will consider it a test of my growth in Slovak language over the year.



For now, I leave you with a snapshot from our day trip to Vienna, Austria last weekend - a reflection of the St. Karl Borromäus Karlskirche in a nearby fountain.

Bratislava, Slovakia

Above: Just prior to leaving Balatonlelle, HU with our Hungarian counterparts and new friends from camp. Below: Staré Mesto (Old Town), Bratislava


We have now arrived in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. We have a few days of Slovak language course under our belts and are quickly assimilating to life in Slovakia. It has been a very interesting experience to get our resident permits, and I think I am starting to understand what it must feel like to be an immigrant to the USA, with trips to notaries, doctors, hospitals, and the police.

Right now, our days begin with Slovak lessons at 8am until 12pm, when we break for lunch. In the afternoon, we have a variety of activities to get our permits and meet others working in the area as well as some free time before dinner at 6pm. We (the three ELCA volunteers) are here with eight volunteers from Germany and it has been very fun to get to know them. We all will be staying in Bratislava through next week, when we will depart for our respective sites.

Lake Balaton, Hungary

Our first few days in Europe were spent in Lake Balaton, Hungary. It really is a beautiful lake and is slowly emptying of its last Hungarian tourists for the summer. We have had the chance to learn some Hungarian (Magyar), relax by the lake and get to know some people at the Roma camp where we are staying. We have particularly enjoyed playing gypsy music and dancing with our translator Jozsi, our friend Gyuri and his son Gyurika. (If you search for “Romano Glaszo” in youtube, you can see some videos of their performances!)




Also, here are three fun facts about the church services at the Reformatus Church in Lake Balaton:

1. The services last no longer than 30 minutes.
2. If there are 12 verses in the hymn of the day, you will sing ALL of them.
3. The backs of the pews actually lean forward to the point where it would be impossible to accidentally doze off or even relax during a service.
4. There are about six rows of pews, holding no more than four people each. The effect of this is that having 35 people in the congregation made me feel like I was attending a mega-church.

The Windy City

So, somehow my camera or computer (not sure which) decided to delete all my photos of Chicago save this one of downtown... hopefully I can get that figured out soon!


On a brighter note, I have been enjoying Chicago and getting to know everyone a little better. We are getting all sorts of information and ideas and whatnot to take with us on our year. We got the chance to explore a bit of the city too, including a Spanish speaking church service, salsa dancing, Millennium park and deep-dish pizza! For now, we are staying busy and preparing for Wednesday afternoon when we will head to Budapest... more to come when we arrive!

The I.N. Network

I have recently found out that I will be working at an organization called the I.N. Network and have been in contact with my supervisor. This network runs a community center in Lucenec called 3Pe, a "Center for Gypsies" in Cinobana, and the "Comenius Center" in Rackova dolina. I will be living and working primarily in Lucenec, but may also be traveling to Cinobana and Velka, two gypsy villages close to Lucenec. At these locations, the organization runs quite a few support programs... everything ranging from cooking clubs and alcoholics anonymous to dancing groups and mother's clubs. My work will mainly be revolving around the Gypsy Ministry, but my exact work will depend on how much of the Slovak language I can learn before I arrive!

The IN Network in Slovakia has a wonderful webpage, but unfortunately it is only in Slovak. If you are interested, visit http://www.innetwork.sk/vitajte/

Also, I learned that I will be staying with a host family that lives in downtown Lucenec. The family has three children (two boys, ages 11 and 8 and one girl, age 2) and "two nice dogs".